B2B marketing often falls into the trap of using generalized language to address as many prospects as possible. But generic, impersonalized messages can fall flat, dissuading prospects from moving forward with a sale. In order to drive B2B marketing success, organizations need to deliver the personalized messages that customers expect. Account-based marketing is key to driving revenue and targeting effectively.
What is ABM?
Account-based marketing focuses on aligning marketing and sales teams to work towards one common goal: targeting the right people and accounts effectively throughout a customer journey. That includes nurturing customers to an initial sale, cross-selling, up-selling, and fostering long-term customer loyalty. Account-based marketing prioritizes personalized experiences based on the specific needs of the account you’re targeting, leading to more efficient marketing programs with higher engagement rates and faster time to purchase.
What can ABM do for my business?
When executed effectively, ABM can:
- Accelerate pipeline.
By delivering relevant information about a client’s known pain points, businesses build credibility and decrease the time to decision. This leads to a faster sales cycle and increased overall marketing ROI.
- Increase target account engagement.
Relevant, timely, targeted marketing receives higher CTR and engagement from leads. And by reviewing which content or product pages a lead interacts with, sales can have more quality conversations about an account’s needs.
- Drive new business and generate revenue.
ABM strategies show an increase in new business acquisition thanks to personalized content tailored to a business’s specific needs across multiple channels.
How can my business start using ABM strategies?
First, bring marketing and sales together to select the right accounts to target and define the right metrics for success. Develop a selection process together to align teams towards a common goal with a common message. Then, group selected accounts into manageable segments by vertical, geo, or size. Once you’ve created your segments, use a tailored content strategy to deliver personalized experiences across multiple channels. Focus your content messaging on specific pain points and provide tangible solutions. And remember – speak to the individual contact as a person, not the company at large. Provide content that’s relevant not only to the business, but to a contact’s role within the business, to connect on a 1-to-1 level.
I’ve started using ABM and I’m ready for the next step. Now what?
ABM strategies are evolving to meet customer demands and deliver account-specific experiences with the maturation of marketing technology. Advancements in CRM and marketing automation allow teams to seamlessly integrate account and customer data to deliver omni-channel personalization. If you’re ready to uplevel your ABM strategy, it’s time to evaluate your technology stack to identify missed opportunities to gather data that can inform your long-term sales and marketing strategy. No matter what CRM or marketing tool you’re currently running, our tech-agnostic integrated marketing experts are here to help.
